Question for DUers: Do you hate the NRA so much you'll ally with Michael Bloomberg?

[friendly_iconoclast]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by hootinholler (a host of the General Discussion forum).

I'll state right off the bat that I'm not thrilled with the NRA personally, because I'm about 90% sure that despite their proclaimed non-
partisan stance, they are in fact a right-wing political movement with a bitchin gun club, like I stated here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117222584

"Why I'm not going to rejoin the NRA just yet."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117222584#post50

"No point in donating money to people that piss on the President, while accepting Mitt's AWB."

I'd like to see if they go into the tank for Mittens when it comes to edorsement time. However, they are not the only big money
players in the world of gun control politics-in fact they may not even be the biggest. That 'honor' might belong to His Honor, Michael Bloomberg.

Yep, Mayor 0.1% just might be the richest player in gun control politics, thanks to his billions and his founding, financing, and co-chairmanship
of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. They have a website (with videos of Da Mayah, of course) at:

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/home/home.shtml

So, what has our man Mike been up to lately? A few examples:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101476176

Mayor Bloomberg says ‘piling on’ of Goldman Sachs is ‘ridiculous’
Source: NY Daily News

BY TINA MOORE

Mayor Bloomberg defended a battered Goldman Sachs on Friday, saying that he thinks "this piling on is ridiculous."

Hizzoner said that he stopped by the investment bank Thursday to show his support after a former employee trashed the firm in a "nasty letter" to a newspaper.

The mayor brushed off the letter writer Greg Smith’s allegations that workers called customers "muppets" to be manipulated for profit.

"I don't know whoever said what," Bloomberg said on WOR Radio's John Gambling Show.

"But even if it was said, it's a few people and, you know, Goldman Sachs is a firm that's been around for well over a hundred years and it's a great firm.”...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002433100

Go 99%ers !!! - 'Mayor Bloomberg Proudly Stands With Goldman Sachs' - FDL

Mayor Bloomberg Proudly Stands With Goldman Sachs
By: Jon Walker - FDL
Friday March 16, 2012 9:48 am

<snip>

Apparently Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks one of the world’s most powerful corporations needs to be protected from a single former mid-level employee saying mean things about it. From Bloomberg Businessweek:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s headquarters in Manhattan in a show of support after a departing employee publicly criticized the firm’s culture yesterday.

“The mayor stopped by to make clear that the company is a vital part of the city’s economy, and the kind of unfair attacks that we’re seeing can eventually hurt all New Yorkers,” said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for the mayor.

The most amazing thing to me about Greg Smith’s resignation letter from Goldman Sachs is not his actual criticisms, most of them are relatively old news for a company known as the ‘vampire squid,’ but the intensity of the often bizarre wagon-circling by the financial elites in Goldman Sach’s defense. The quantity of people choosing to publicly support Goldman at this moment with some truly pathetic defenses is significant. There seems to be some actual fear that this one op-ed could do some real damage to Wall Street.

Bloomie's a man of many parts, it seems. Do you know he has his own army?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5076002

Mayor Bloomberg: 'I Have My Own Private Army' (in NYPD)

Source: PolitickerNY

Mayor Bloomberg: ‘I Have My Own Army’

By Hunter Walker 10:06am

In a speech at MIT last night to discuss the packed sweepstakes to build a tech campus in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg said he prefers City Hall to the White House. Almost immediately after Mayor Bloomberg dampened recent speculation he’s eyeing a White House bid, he added fuel to the fire by explaining why a mayor would be the best person for the job.

Mayor Bloomberg’s recent criticism of President Obama for allowing the debt reduction Supercommittee to fail led many political tea leaf watchers to believe he’s eyeing a potential White House bid. To the dismay of those who hope he’ll mount presidential campaign, Mayor Bloomberg began his speech last night by discussing why City Hall is just fine by him.

“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said....

http://www.politicker.com/2011/11/30/mayor-bloomberg-i-have-my-own-army-11-30-11/

Man, it's good to be a billionaire, isn't it? You can have your underlings keep track of those pesky subversives for you.
Wouldn't wan't them to cause your buds at Goldman Sachs any trouble, would we?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002461812

NYPD Infiltrated and Spied on Liberal Groups

Last edited Fri Mar 23, 2012, 04:18 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
The AP (via CBS) notes that undercover cops went to liberal political groups' meetings, building intel files on activists and protesters.

The newswire says that interviews and docs collected during the investigation "show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities."

The AP points out that the NYPD used these same tactics in 2004, when the department monitored church, environmental, and anti-war groups in the U.S., claiming these policies were necessary to prep for the GOP convention.

But these methods continued far after the convention took place: in 2008, the NYPD's super-secret intel department sent an undercover officer to attend the People's Summit in New Orleans. The project report gathered information on two U.S. activists, journalist Jordan Flaherty and labor organizer Marisa Franco, the AP notes.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/nypd_spied_on_l.php

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57403085/docs-show-nypd-infiltrated-liberal-groups/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101480663

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101481530

So if you're going to dislike the NRA because of its seamy political allies, be careful you don't acquire a few of your own...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. I'm for gun control regardless of who else is for gun control

Just as I am for the freedom of women to rule over their own bodies, regardless of who else is for the freedom of women to rule over their own bodies.

If some nutjob happens to agree with me on something, well, that's interesting but nothing else. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[Major Hogwash]

2. Well said.

I guess guilt by association is a last desperate attempt to smear DU members.

[friendly_iconoclast]

19. "I guess guilt by association is a last desperate attempt to smear DU members."

Now, that's a quote I'll be happy to use!

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. A principled stance, and I respect that.

I do hope you do not hesitate to call out Bloomie for his crypto-fascist antics in other spheres of public life.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. I do consider him an ass. :) nt

[safeinOhio]

3. He won the mayor's office as a Republican and is

now a registered independent. Why would anyone here support him?

Would you ally yourself with an org that has Ted Nugent and Grover Norquist on the board of directors and spokespeople for that org.?

I've never heard of DU member sending money to the mayor, or even thinking of it. Yet there are many on this forum that do send dues to the NRA.

So, are you making the mayor a straw man?

[friendly_iconoclast]

11. Bloomberg's pet .org MAIG gets more than a few approving posts here at DU.

And make no mistake about it, Bloomberg is very much primus inter pares in MAIG. So his political stances and actions are just as relevant
as Nugents' and Norquists'. Oddly enough certain posters are quick to bring them up in discussions that don't have anything to do with them...

As you (and I) pointed out, the NRA has dodgy politics. Well, so does the big dog in the anti camp...

[Upton]

5. Don't forget the Bradys..

another gun control org started by Republicans, but strangely enough now supported by many here at DU..

[onehandle]

8. Brady doesn't work to elect Republicans. The NRA does.

Nice try.

[onehandle]

7. The NRA has elected scores of Republicans. Bloomberg is a mayor.

Clearly, one deserves far more scorn.

Anyone who supports the NRA, is supporting the election of Tea Party candidates.

[friendly_iconoclast]

12. Which is why I haven't rejoined them, as noted in the OP.

Nice try, no prize...

[onehandle]

13. Then what's your fucking point here?

President Obama has worked with Republicans, killed and spied on Americans. Should 'we' abandon him?

[friendly_iconoclast]

16. Touched a nerve, did I? Point is, if you're going to support the policies of, or quote from, MAIG...

you should be aware that its proprietor has more than a little unprogressive baggage of his own- just like the NRA does.

[onehandle]

18. Go back to the Gungeon.

Nobody wants to see this shit out here.

So glad that place is invisible now.

[friendly_iconoclast]

25. Why? There's lots of discussion about the NRA right now in GD.

I take it this is because I pointed out that the PTB in what is essentially the anti-NRA also has feet of clay...

[onehandle]

27. You're not discussing the NRA. You're discussing Bloomberg. Hundreds of 'MAIG' mayors are Dems.

This is an RKBA thread. Nothing more.

Take it back to the musty hole.

[friendly_iconoclast]

31. Bloomberg's gotten more than a little mention in GD lately himself.

Not for his gun control stance, granted- but should that be off-limits in GD?

Oh and about that "Hundreds of 'MAIG' mayors are Dems.": So what? I'd point out that MAIG seems
to have a crime problem of its own:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11729219

"Bloomberg's group over 76x more likely to be convicted of crime than TX CHL holders."

[Tejas]

33. So sayeth the hall monitor! ALL HAIL!

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Shouldn't this be in the Gun forum?

Failing to see the direct connection to a current event here.

[onehandle]

10. Yes.

Take it out of decent space, where we don't have to see their propaganda.

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. Kindly point out any factual errors in the OP.

Or was it that I was so declasse as to point out that the head of MAIG has, shall we say, a few inconvenient items on his CV?

[X_Digger]

17. You mean like these?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=462654
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=459221
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002463657
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002464752
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002466113
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002464943
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002465860
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002465437
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002464919
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002463612
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002462446
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002464247
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002462866
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002461439

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. Without checking, likely yes.

Trayvon's murder and the ongoing case is news. Gun policy for the sake of gun policy is RKBA.

[X_Digger]

24. Thanks, I agree. n/t

[pscot]

15. Yes

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. Hitler was a vegetarian - so vegetarians are allied with Hitler?

I stand with every modern democracy on the face of this earth in supporting strong gun control laws. It is common sense that would save thousands of lives every year.

[friendly_iconoclast]

26. Frankly, I wish our gun laws were like Switzerland's

They have lots of guns, little crime, and as others have pointed out their army is great for national defense and useless for building and
maintaining an empire. Until then, I'll take what we've got while striving to remove political influence from gun licensing.

[ProSense]

22. I don't get it

I don't like either of them. They both suck!

[gopiscrap]

23. In a heartbeat:

Yes! The NRA is nothing but terrorist scum!!!!!!!!!

[friendly_iconoclast]

28. Well, you're certainly candid about your views...

[jwirr]

29. While my family owns guns we find it hard to agree with the NRA on many of their issues. Such as

SYG, the size of clips, political fear propaganda and political party choice of many of its leaders.

[TheKentuckian]

30. I gave you rec but I see no reason to ally with either. I'm against the NRA because they push

Reich Wing TeaPubliKlans and will shit on a Democrat with nary a black mark against gun rights and certainly won't give them a dime unless they are generally right wing and even then rarely.

I despise Bloomberg because he is a fascist all around.

[friendly_iconoclast]

32. Thanks. That's kind of why I'm not rejoining the NRA for the moment.

I'm waiting to see if they clean up their act, or if they will "go into the tank" for Mitt Romney.

[Tejas]

34. So the NRA never endorses Democratic candidates?

[hootinholler]

35. Locking: Apparent consensus is this is actually a gun thread